Former Chief Justice, who has already made the Parliamentary Committee constituted on the Bill that provides for simultaneous elections, has already supported the constitutionalism of the concept of ‘one nation, one election’ (ONO), but has also given suggestions about various aspects of the bill, including the power given to the Election Commission.

Justice DY Chandrachud, who was the Chief Justice (CJI) of India, has rejected the opposition’s criticism in his opinion submitted to the Joint Parliamentary Committee that the simultaneous Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections together is a violation of the basic structure of the Constitution.

This thing was not written in the constitution

He said that there is no talk of separating national and state elections anywhere in the Constitution. However, according to the opinion submitted to the Parliamentary Committee, he joined another former CJI Ranjan Gogoi in questioning the ‘comprehensive powers’ given ‘wide powers’ without setting any guidelines for the use of ‘discretion’ to the Election Commission in the proposed Constitutional Amendment Act.

Justice Chandrachud and another former CJI J. S. Khehar is going to appear before the committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP PP Chaudhary on 11 July, so that members can interact with them on the provisions of the bill and know their views on their questions.

Questions raised on the widespread powers given to the Election Commission

Questioning the comprehensive powers given to the Election Commission in the Bill, Justice Chandrachud said, ‘Unlimited rights can enable the election body to reduce or extend the constitutionally compulsory 5 -year period of the tenure of the state assembly. Especially on the pretext that elections together with the Lok Sabha are not viable.

He said that the Constitution should define, paint and structures the circumstances under which ECI can use this power. Two former CJIs, Justice UU Lalit and Justice Ranjan Gogoi appeared before the committee in February and March respectively. Sources have said that during the conversation, Justice Gogoi said that he agrees with the concern of some members regarding the excessive power given to the Commission.

Elections should be held in order

Justice Lalit had suggested that elections should be conducted not simultaneously, but in order, as the tenure of the remaining assemblies aimed at making the election cycles synchronized could be legally challenged. However, the three former Chief Justice have not questioned the constitutionality of the concept of elections simultaneously.

Conspiracy to seduce voters

In his written opinion, Justice Chandrachud said that by holding elections simultaneously, there will be no violation of the voters’ right to choose the delegates and the bill ensures that voters are represented by their duly elected MPs or MLAs. The argument opposing to hold elections simultaneously is based on the fact that Indian voters are innocent and can be easily seduced.

Justice Chandrachud said, ‘The argument that gradual elections are part of the original structure of the Constitution (part of the principles of federalism or democracy) is not correct. The gradual time of elections cannot be considered as a specialty of the original constitution, it is a distant thing to be considered an irreversible feature.

Small parties threatened by holding elections simultaneously

Justice Chandrachud’s opinion is not devoid of caution about some characteristics of the Bill or the possible effects of it on it. He expressed concern that small or regional parties would be marginalized due to the dominance of national parties with better resources by holding elections together.

He said that this is an important policy aspect that needs to be paid to legislatively. To ensure equal opportunities among political parties, the rules that control electoral campaigns, especially spending on election campaign must be strengthened.

Party spends more money than fixed limit

Justice Chandrachud said that the maximum limit has been fixed on the amount to be spent by the candidate during the election campaign during the election campaign, but there is no such limit on the expenditure incurred by political parties themselves during the election campaign. This difference in regulation goes in favor of parties with more financial resources in the electoral process.

Also read:- Do not pay attention to rumors! Election Commission said- no change in the process of voter list updation in Bihar

Delhi BJP news: An important meeting was organized in the Delhi BJP office regarding ‘One Nation One Election’. The meeting was held on Sunday evening, in which many senior BJP leaders and Delhi MLAs were present.

The most important role in this meeting is that of National General Secretary Sunil Bansal. Sunil Bansal is also a member of the High Power Committee, which has been formed by the Central Government to take the opinion of the people across the country on ‘One Nation One Election’. The purpose of this committee is to know how practical it is to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously across the country and what is the opinion of the general public and public representatives on it.

According to sources, Sunil Bansal has participated in similar meetings in many states earlier and now his presence in Delhi is part of this series. This meeting is part of the workshops that are being held in every state of the country, so that feedback can be received from all states on this important issue.

Many senior leaders and MLAs of Delhi BJP have already reached the meeting. These include Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva, Minister Pankaj Singh, Minister Ravindra Indraj, MP Yogendra Chandolia, MP Kanwaljeet Sehrawat, MLA Gajendra Yadav, MLA Satish Upadhyay and senior leader Harish Khurana. The presence of these leaders is making the meeting even more important.

According to BJP, this meeting is very important because ‘One Nation One Election’ is an issue that can bring a big change in the country’s electoral system. If elections are held simultaneously across the country, then it will save time and money, and the effect on the functioning of governments due to repeated model code of conduct will also be less.

It will be discussed in the meeting that what is the opinion of Delhi MLAs on this and do they think it is possible to hold elections simultaneously across the country. The High Power Committee will hand over the raised opinion to the Central Government, which will decide further processes. Now all eyes are fixed on this meeting, because it can decide in which direction Delhi BJP will move forward on this big issue.

Also read: Delhi: UAE was sending blacklisted female passenger through fake passport, agent arrested

One nation one election news: The tenure of the Joint Committee of Parliament constituted to consider the Bills proposed to conduct the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in India simultaneously has now been extended. This decision was taken on Tuesday (March 25) when the committee was entrusted with the task that it would present its report by the last week of this year.

The 39-member Joint Committee formed to consider the two Bills submitted with the objective of holding the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously- ‘Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024’ and ‘Union Territory of Law (Amendment) Bill, 2024’ now proposed to extend the tenure. The chairman of the committee and BJP MP PP Chaudhary kept this proposal in the Lok Sabha, which was approved by the House. This committee has been given time to make intensive views and final recommendations on these bills.

Deadline set for committee report

These bills were introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17 last year and now the committee has been directed to submit the report by the first week of the upcoming monsoon session. These bills are in the direction of implementing a step under which elections of Lok Sabha and Assembly can be conducted simultaneously. Due to this, there is a possibility of saving time in the election process and better use of resources.

Committee supported under the chairmanship of former President

The proposal is based on the basis of the high-level committee constituted under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind, which supported the concept of ‘one nation-one election’. Accepting the recommendations of this committee, the Union Cabinet introduced two bills, one of which is the Constitution Amendment Bill and the other is the Union Territory of Law (Amendment) Bill.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted a 39 -member joint parliamentary committee under the chairmanship of PP Chaudhary in this regard which is considering these bills. Now the committee will have to submit its report in the Lok Sabha within the stipulated time. If these bills are passed then they will indicate a major change in the election process.